I’ve known for quite a while that one of my trigger foods when it comes to Crohn’s is dairy that contains lactose. I’ve been able to switch to lactose-free milk with success, and occasionally I can find lactose free sour-cream, but when it comes to things like butter, soft or creamy cheeses, I haven’t had nearly as much luck.
Because of my arthritis and prednisone, it is pretty important for me to do what I can to include calcium in my diet, however, many non-dairy sources are also a problem for me digestion wise.
I was fiddling around on Pinterest looking at interesting recipes as I am wont to do, when I found some recipes on how to make homemade Ricotta cheese. Curious I decided to give it a try with Lactose-free milk and whipping cream.
Starting Material:
2 L of Lactose Free Milk
1 cup of Lactose Free Whipping Cream
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup Vinegar.
To begin I heated up the mixture of milk and cream to 180 degrees Fahrenheit, stirring the whole time to make sure the milk didn’t burn.
As soon as it reached the necessary temperature, I removed it from the heat and added in the vinegar. Right away you can see it separating into curds and whey.
I let the mixture stand for 10 minutes.
Then I strained everything through a colander covered with a cheese cloth. Then I tied up the cheese cloth and suspended it and let it drip for about 45 minutes.
It turned out pretty well! A lot of the whey got sort of caught in the middle of the bag, which is probably my fault for folding it over too often.
I put the cheese in a metal strainer and let it drip some more which made it a little drier which is how I like it!
I used the cheese to make some delicious stuffed shell pasta. It was a complete success, tasted just like what you find in the store, except without the bit that makes my guts angry at me.
What about the whey?
I used the whey when I made bread later that day, replacing the water and/or milk in the recipe. It made for a really interesting taste to the bread which I quite enjoyed. Overall, this was something I plan to do again.
